BUA Soccer Wins MBIL Championship

Last Friday, BUA’s Varsity Soccer team brought home the Massachusetts Bay Independent League (MBIL) Championship! Team co-captain Will Reason ’20 provides a game recap:

BUA took on Commonwealth last Friday at Winsor School, seeking to win our first championship in the 23-year history of our soccer program. The game started out tense, Commonwealth working hard as they sought revenge for the two regular season defeats we previously inflicted on them. The ball ricocheted around the field as both teams tried to force it over the top to their strikers.

With fifteen minutes gone, I sprinted onto a loose ball, fighting off pressure from two defenders and guiding it clear of the commotion before slamming it past the goalkeeper from six yards out. 1-0! Minutes later, Duarte Albuquerque ’21 settled the ball on the left corner of the box, dragged it away from a defender, and buried it with his right foot, rippling the net. 2-0! BUA took total control of the match with a third goal, this one scored by Allie Burdi ’20. Finding herself on the left edge of the box, she fired a right-footed shot across the goal. The ball deflected off a defender’s head and flew into the top right corner. 3-0! We went into halftime with a commanding lead intact.

BUA dominated the second half as our passing movements came together admirably and we forced Commonwealth back, playing the ball around their box and creating various chances. After about 20 minutes, Rohan Prabhu ’21 got the ball on a breakaway, ran towards the goal, and finished the chance with aplomb, placing a shot in the bottom left corner. 4-0! The excitement was palpable. After 23 years of waiting, a championship was almost here. But Commonwealth fought until the end, forcing BUA goalie Abhi Lingareddy ’22 into a great ground save, preserving the clean sheet already protected by starting goalie Kealan Biebesheimer ’21.

At the final whistle, our ecstatic bench charged the field. A wonderful, collective effort by 23 different players had finally ended a 22-year title drought and a five-game losing streak in finals. Kourosh Ghaffari ’19 and I soon became the first captains in BUA history to lift the MBIL Division Two Trophy. The victory was a fitting cap to a stellar season led by coaches Bill Whittaker, Gaeton-Nicolas Bernimolin, and Stephanie Wilczynski, and represented not only a historic first, but also a statement of intent to the MBIL Division One, where we will play next season.